DULLES, Va., Feb. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from more than 180 U.S. colleges and universities will begin competing this week for the 2015 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC), a national tournament to choose the team who can best protect computer networks against real-world cyber threats that are infiltrating major retailers, corporations, social networks and financial institutions today.

Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) will help kick off the 2015 NCCDC season at ten regional events; winning teams will move on to the national competition in San Antonio, Texas, on April 24th-26th.

In 2014, Raytheon became the three-year title sponsor of NCCDC, and will provide technical resources and employee volunteers to help promote the next generation of cyber defenders.

"This competition challenges the best and brightest from across the country with some of the hardest problems we face in the cyber domain," said David Wajsgras, the recently appointed president of Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business. "The National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, in partnership with Raytheon, is helping to address the major shortage in cyber talent by building the next generation of leaders."

These ten regional competitions will determine the contenders for the national championship:

"In partnership with Raytheon, NCCDC helps students understand how cyber theory and curriculum can be applied to the real world," said Dwayne Williams, director of NCCDC. "Partners from DHS, Raytheon, and other industry leaders enable us to continue reinforcing the importance of cybersecurity and engage even more students with the vast opportunities the field offers."

Founded in 2005 by the University of Texas San Antonio's Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, NCCDC has grown to include qualifying, state and regional level competitions. NCCDC is modeled after real-world commercial business environments, challenging collegiate teams to successfully keep a company running despite constant cyber attacks. To win, undergraduate and graduate students must secure and maintain servers and workstations, manage data, administer users, and perform common business-related and administrative tasks while fending off attacks from a live opposition team.

The University of Central Florida won the 2014 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, which was presented by Raytheon. Raytheoncongratulated the winning team with a tour of Washington, D.C., that included a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden.

About RaytheonRaytheon Company, with 2014 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 93 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as cyber security and a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter at @Raytheon.